The Best E-Reader: Kobo's Aura HD

With its remarkably sharp screen, a new luxury e-reader soars to the top of the nightstand, beating out the Kindle and Nook.

May 3, 2013 4:24 p.m. ET

ENLARGE

Kobo Aura HD
David Chow for The Wall Street Journal

E-READERS HAVE come a long way since the first Kindle hit the market six years ago. But the devices, which mimic paper using what's known as an E Ink screen, still require a measure of compromise from their converts. The text on most devices—even the flagship Kindle and Nook—has never been as crisp as print. Electronic page turns, while quick, have a slight lag. And the limited choice of fonts—the Kindle Paperwhite, for example, lets you pick from only six—can make for pages whose design recalls the early days of the World Wide Web.

The new Aura HD, from the Canadian company Kobo, is the first model that rivals the printed page. The biggest improvement is the screen—it displays text at 265 dots per inch (dpi), compared with the Kindle Paperwhite's 212 dpi or the Nook SimpleTouch's 167 dpi. While the differences between the numbers may seem relatively inconsequential, the Aura HD's higher resolution makes text markedly sharper. The screen is slightly larger, too: 6.8 inches diagonal instead of the 6 inches that are standard today—a subtle increase that fits considerably more words on each page.

The Aura HD also offers unprecedented control over how text is displayed. While many people may be content reading 12-point Helvetica, bibliophiles will appreciate the ability to fine-tune font weight, line-spacing and even the sharpness of each character. The Aura HD has other best-in-class features, like remarkably even lighting (the illumination of the lighted Kindle and Nook models is splotchy, by comparison) and, thanks to a zippy 1-GHz processor, faster page-turns and a more responsive touch-screen.

For those who have invested in e-books from Amazon or Barnes & Noble,BKS0.23% switching to the Aura HD won't be easy. Most e-books purchased from each store are only viewable on that brand's devices. (Hopefully, this will change; six years after the iTunes Store launched, it began selling music that could be played on any device, not just iPods.) But Kobo's store is just as sprawling as its competitors', with over 3 million titles.

The Aura HD costs $170—more than the top-of-the-line Kindle and Nook models (both $119). For those who don't just read books, but devour them, it's a premium worth paying. $170, kobo.com

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